A parameter of interest of a signal, such as the angle of arrival of a target signal received by an antenna system having an array of antenna elements, is estimated by (a) obtaining disparate observations of the target signal received by the antenna system; (b) with a computer, processing the disparate observations of the target signal to determine a subset of a set of possible further obtained disparate observations of the target signal for processing to enable an optimal estimation of the angle of arrival of the target signal; (c) obtaining the subset of further disparate observations of the signal; and (d) processing the obtained subset of further obtained disparate observations to obtain the optimal estimate of the parameter of interest.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method of estimating the angle of arrival of a target signal received by an antenna system, comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining disparate observations of a target signal received by an antenna system; and (b) with a computer, processing the obtained disparate observations of the signal to select a subset of said disparate observations of the signal for processing to enable an optimal estimation of the angle of arrival of the signal.
2. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: (c) subsequent to step (b), obtaining the subset of said disparate observations of the signal; and (d) with a computer, processing the subsequently obtained subset of said disparate observations to obtain the optimal estimate of the angle of arrival of the signal.
3. A method according to claim 1 , where step (b) comprises the steps of: (c) processing the disparate observations of the signal to provide a plurality of estimates of the angle of arrival of the signal; and (d) processing the plurality of estimates to determine the subset in accordance with which of the estimates is an optimal estimation of the angle of arrival of the signal.
4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein step (c) comprises the step of: (e) using maximum-likelihood processing to estimate the angle of arrival of the target signal.
6. A method according to claim 3 , wherein step (d) comprises the step of: (e) using minimization of variance of the estimates of the angle of arrival as a criterion for determining which of said estimates is an optimal estimation of the angle of arrival.
7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein step (e) comprises the step of: (f) determining said variance for a particular said estimate by using a Cramer-Rao bound derived from a prior said determination of a said particular estimate as an optimal estimation of the angle of arrival.
11. A method according to claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (c) obtaining the disparate observations from different antenna elements of the antenna system.
12. A method according to claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (c) obtaining the disparate observations from different elements of a commutated antenna array of the antenna system.
13. A method according to claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (c) obtaining the disparate observations at different times.
14. A method according to claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (c) obtaining the disparate observations at different frequencies.
15. A method according to claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (c) obtaining the disparate observations by using different CDMA signal access codes.
16. A system for estimating the angle of arrival of a target signal received by an antenna system, comprising the steps of: means for obtaining disparate observations of a target signal received by an antenna system; and a computer adapted for processing the obtained disparate observations of the signal to select a subset of said disparate observations of the signal for processing to enable an optimal estimation of the angle of arrival of the signal.
17. A nontransitory computer readable storage medium for use with a computer in a system for estimating the angle of arrival of a target signal received by an antenna system, wherein the system comprises: means for obtaining disparate observations of the signal; and a computer, wherein the computer readable storage medium contains computer executable program instructions for causing the computer to perform the step of: (a) with a computer, processing the obtained disparate observations of the signal to select a subset of said disparate observations of the signal for processing to enable an optimal estimation of the angle of arrival of the signal.
18. A nontransitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 17 , wherein the means for obtaining disparate observations of the signal are adapted for subsequently obtaining the subset of said disparate observations of the signal; and wherein the computer readable storage medium further contains computer executable program instructions for causing the computer to perform the step of: (b) processing the subsequently obtained subset of said disparate observations to obtain the optimal estimate of the angle of arrival of the signal.
19. A nontransitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 17 , wherein the computer readable storage medium contains computer executable program instructions for causing the computer to perform step (a) by performing the steps of: (b) processing the disparate observations of the signal to provide a plurality of estimates of the angle of arrival of the signal; and (c) processing the plurality of estimates to determine the subset of further obtained disparate observations in accordance with which of the estimates is an optimal estimation of the angle of arrival of the signal.
20. A nontransitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 19 , wherein the computer readable storage medium contains computer executable program instructions for causing the computer to perform step (b) by performing the step of: (d) using maximum-likelihood processing to estimate the angle of arrival of the signal.
22. A nontransitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 19 , wherein the computer readable storage medium contains computer executable program instructions for causing the computer to perform step (c) by performing the step of: (d) using minimization of variance of the estimates of parameter of interest as a criterion for determining which of said estimates is an optimal estimation of the parameter of interest.
23. A nontransitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 22 , wherein the computer readable storage medium contains computer executable program instructions for causing the computer to perform step (d) by performing the step of: (e) determining said variance for a particular said estimate by using a Cramer-Rao bound derived from a prior said determination of a said particular estimate as an optimal estimation of the parameter of interest.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
December 17, 2008
May 15, 2012
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